[Video] GNU and Linux Everywhere (Except by Name)
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THE publicly-accessible Web surveyors that are available (and still exist; some have perished) tell us that close to 45% of Web requests come from Android devices. Android uses the Linux kernel and it's AOSP (OS for Open Source) with proprietary "apps" on top, so there's good news but also bad news.
Where does the mainstream media stand on all this? Well, it is getting to the point where the media is so bad that any time it doesn't blame "Linux" (by name) for some security incident it is almost immediately implied that it's Windows (but not mentioned by name). An associate remarks that Microsoft "has been trying to make "Windows (r)" synonymous with home computing and work computing for almost 20 years. The press is just playing along. Note that the big box stores have only Windows crap but neither Microsoft nor Windows is mentioned anywhere at all, not on the computer, not next to them, not on the display placards."
This point is discussed in the video above. In a sense, to be 'fair', Android is becoming a lot like that, and it's not controlled by Microsoft, only attacked by Microsoft using software patents (or, in some cases, Microsoft threatens OEMs with lawsuits unless they bundle Microsoft, preloading Android with Microsoft spyware). Microsoft is exceptionally evil in that regard.
Nowadays, when people walk into stores and look for a computer that's not a laptop or desktop (i.e. typically some phone or tablet), unless it runs iOS (and it's an Apple Store), then Android is simply assumed. Microsoft isn't even in the cards.
Depending on the country, it's possible that even a section exists for "Chromebooks (also no Microsoft) and maybe one for "Macs" (Apple but not inside an Apple Store).
But why is Android the only prevalent choice? It didn't have to be this way, but Microsoft killed Nokia. As the associate put it: "Microsoft killed the Linux based alternative at Nokia a while back. So with mobiles, it really is Android or iOS except for a statistically insignificant number of SailfishOS devices and Graphene devices."
What Microsoft did was recalled in the latest batch of Daily Links, e.g.
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[Old] The Full Story of Nokia and Microsoft - How we got here, and why Microsoft will fail with Nokia handsets just like it did with Kin
But here is the fact vs the myth. Nokia wasn't dying because of Apple. Nokia's smarpthone unit was not dying at all, when Elop announced his bizarre strategy on February 11, 2011. This is the truth. Nokia's smartphone unit was more than twice the size of its nearest rival (which wasn't Apple even). How unusual is that? IBM was never twice as big as its biggest rivals in the PC world. Neither was Compaq, nor at any time Hewlett Packard, nor Lenovo nor Dell. Same of cars, General Motors has never been twice as big as its nearest rival. Neither has Toyota nor Volkswagen nor Fiat. Ford has, yes been twice as big as its nearest rival, but that last happened nearly century ago, when Ford manufactured the Model T, before the Great Depression. Can you imagine. Nokia in 2010, was such a supreme dominating powerhouse in smartphones globally, it had a bigger lead than HP or Dell or Lenovo or IBM ever had in PCs, or Toyota, GM, Volkswagen, Fiat ever - EVER - had in cars. And Nokia was doing this very profitably indeed.
Not only that. Nokia grew more in 2010, yes grew MORE in 2010, in smartphones, than Apple grew iPhone sales or Samsung or Blackberry or HTC or anyone else. Not as 'growth percentage' a misleading metric that always favors the smaller guy against the bigger guy, but in absolute growth numbers. In year 2010, just before Elop announced his new Windows based smartphone strategy, Nokia sold 103.6 million smartphones (the latest, corrected number according to official Nokia documents). Nokia owned 34.8% of the global smartphone market. Nokia sold its smartphones at strong profits, and ever since Elop took over in 2010, Nokia's smartphone unit profits had increased to a record of over 500 million Euros - for the full year, the smartphone unit generated 1.6 Billion Euros of profits (2 Billion US dollars). The profits were growing. And yes, Apple's iPhone was not 'winning' compared to Nokia smartphones at the time. Apple grew from 25 million to 47 million iPhones sold from 2009 to 2010. Apple added 22 million new iPhone customers during the year. RIM's Blackberry grew from 35 million to 48 million, adding 13 million new customers during 2010. (Samsung even less than these two). Nokia grew from 68 million to 104 million smartphones sold during 2010, so Nokia grew its smartphone business by 36 million new users. Nokia grew in 2010 essentially as much as Blackberry and Apple's iPhone - combined. Nokia was not dying. Nokia was not in trouble. The gap between Nokia and Apple was not shrinking in 2010 - Nokia was PULLING AWAY from Apple's iPhone!!!!
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[Old] 'Accident' That Gave Nokia CEO $25.5 Million Payday in Microsoft Sale
In fact, as you can see on page 149 of this SEC document, Elop's compensation was adjusted to give him a very short-term incentive to sell the company. In the event of a "change of control" he would get all his stock incentives at once (emphasis added): [...]
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Communities Dominate Brands: Now We Know Why - Nokia's Elop had a $25M personal bonus clause from the Nokia Board if he was able to sell the handset unit to Microsoft
Ok, the truth is seeping out, and this is smelly shit. I apologize for the language. We have news about Elop and his incentives. Yes, Elop had a contract that would pay him 25 million dollars if he managed to sell Nokia's handset unit to Microsoft. This is a blatant conflict of interest, and one that incentivizes Elop for destructive behavior against Nokia. I had been trying to think of a good analogy, I finally thought of one. Its like a town hires a new police chief. The new police chief is paid a salary to reduce crime. But he is then promised a bonus if he can stop the people complaining about crime. The new police chief starts systematically to kill all residents who complain about crime - including complaining about him, the police chief killing citizens. Soon the complaints end and the police chief earns his bonus. This is so silly, its like from a Monty Python sketch, except its true. Elop, just like the imaginary police chief, is now being paid a massive 25 million dollar bonus for destroying Nokia's profit engine and very healthy handset business unit. So lets dig in. What on earth has been happening? Lets start, as we usually do, with the facts: [...]
(The dotted purple line here is when Elop is hired to Nokia)
Even some mainstream media wrote about it ("Finnish flap! Elop's $25.5M bonus causing stir - Puget Sound Business Journal").
Lots of relevant details (in the Ahonen links above) explain why we ended up with Linux everywhere, but mostly in Android clothing. Ahonen's work "is very rich in information and details," the associate says.
In a sense, Linux already has over 50% of the world's "OS" market (as in operating system, not Open Source), but we're still far from Software Freedom for ordinary users. █